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Folk Horror Appreciation Thread

RileyOBlimey

Well-Known Member
Them up ‘em selves city folk, come ‘round these parts? Their fancy ways won’t help them ‘ere.

A thread for all things folk horror.

What’s you favourite films of the genre?


Mine? 2 of Ben Wheatley’s Kill List




….and A Field in England




…and The Wicker Man

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Just been watching Witches (1966) a pre-Wicker Man, pre-Blood on Satan’s Claw Hammer Horror. Below par but worth a watch if you like the genre.


“She put Linda’s hand in the mangle!”

I'm just going to skip over the dreadful whatthefuckery of the premise and get to what was that going on in the last few seconds of the trailer?!
 
If this isn't confined to the screen...

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This should be the start of a folk horror tale - academic who has spent his career studying witch marks, starts a lockdown project to renovate an old door. Layers of paint and varnish are scraped away revealing long hidden ancient symbols...

 
I'm surprised no-one's mentioned Midsommar yet. I don't think it's anywhere near as good as many people think it is (and it's not a patch on The Wicker Man to which it's frequently compared) but it's still a worthy entry in the canon. Florence Pugh is once again on top form even if I don't think the rest of the film came together as well as it should have done.

Ken Russell's The Lair of the White Worm, loosely based on the Lambton Worm, is a very Russell take on the tale - lots of black comedy for those who can tolerate his style.

I'm not sure if The Witchfinder General counts, but it does in my book - albeit with witchcraft being the backdrop to the real horror.

Super-obscure, but there's a 60s portmanteau film from Japan called Kwaidan, IIRC all based on traditional Japanese folklore and presented in a very theatrical style - well worth seeking out.

Speaking of which, is it old enough now to consider Ring as folk horror of the 90s? Watched this again recently (Eureka did a nice blu-ray of it) and still a stone-cold classic.

Other than the three mentioned in the OP, I would add The VVitch as the best the genre has to offer.

Robert Eggers' other film, The Lighthouse, also counts as a folk horror IMHO and is, in my opinion, an even more stonking film than The Witch.

Of course, an evening of folk horror wouldn't be complete without a showing of Troll 2, a horror in every sense of the word.
 
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